So here we are on the verge of another election in this country that will supposedly bring progress to this nation. As I write these words here in Australia, many people in the UK are mourning the death of Margaret Thatcher, the first woman Prime Minister of Great Britain who was known for the great “progress” she brought to her country – of course some will dispute her contribution.

Progress is an interesting concept. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution would see that a species, over time, will progress in a way that sees it becoming ever more successful in terms of surviving within in its own particular ecological niche. One wonders to what extent this is true of the human species – are we really continuing to progress in terms of being successful within our own world? I would argue that there is considerable mythology to the idea of progress.

Many people, particularly politicians and secular commentators in the media still live by this myth and encourage us to believe it. Politicians the world over are still trying to conjure up enthusiasm for their versions of the myth of progress. The idea behind the myth of progress sprang out of the Renaissance and the so called “Enlightenment” and the scientific revolution. Philosophers such as Hegel and Nietzsche argued fervently that humankind was progressing to become a “super” species and rationalistic liberal modernism would lead the way to the truth and a new Utopia the real salvation of humanity. Of course what followed were the tragic distortions, arising from human greed and arrogance, that morphed into Stalinism, the Third Reich, and the Holocaust, amongst many other terrible events of the last century.

A writer whom I am increasingly coming to appreciate, Dr Tom Wright, has pointed out that the “myth of progress” falls over precisely because it does not deal with the human beings’ propensity towards evil – “this is why all the evolutionary optimism of the last two hundred years remains helpless before world war, drug crime, Auschwitz, apartheid, child abuse and pornography” (p97 “Surprised by Hope”). And of course we could add many other things to this list of facts that undermine the idea that we are progressing as a species. There is no doubt that technology is progressing rapidly – but technology for what end? Are there fewer slaves and starving people in Africa and West Asia because we have sophisticated computer systems? Have we really got a grip on stopping climate change? We haven’t even decided whether it’s happening or not.

Are our lives so much happier because of our technological and scientific advances? Youth suicide and domestic violence statistics, amongst many things, in the most progressive countries, seem to suggest the very opposite.

As we go to these holidays it would be wonderful to think that looking ahead to a fresh election “all will be well, we are moving forward”, and I am an optimist, most of the time. However, Tom Wright and our own biblical writers and philosophers, would urge us to think a bit deeper than the superficial materialistic and political realities of our day. They would have us reflect on what we really believe about life and death and what we believe happens after life. They would say that God intends to renew the whole of creation and that we should be looking to be participate in the renewal in the wider world – bringing healing, and hope to this present life which each of us has been given.

This is really the post-Easter message and that is that Jesus is risen and those of us who are his followers have a new job to do. And that is to bring God’s renewal to birth in actual, physical, earthly realities for all people – justice and mercy and healing and hope for all people of the earth – then we might just see the beginnings of true progress for our species.

Rev. David N. Williams
School Chaplin